How To Get A Child To Sleep In His Own Bed: Reasons And Tips

Sleeping together with parents helps little babies feel relaxed and protected, but later parents think about how to get their child to sleep in their own bed.

When parents sleep with kids, it contributes to the development of a close connection between mother, father, and their lovely baby. But you shouldn’t delay the separate sleep. Psychologists note that children who share the bed with their parents can grow up shy and confused.

You should know that the child will not accept changes as positive. Kids take defensive positions, they can cry and hardly fall asleep in a new place.

Sleeping in one bed: Advantages and disadvantages

Sleeping in one bed is deeply supported by breastfeeding consultants. They are right when it comes to infants and children who get artificial nutrition. Before you help a child sleep in their own bed, consider the good and bad influences of sleeping together.

Main advantages of sleeping in a parent’s bed:

• Mom does not need to regularly get up to feed the baby or change clothes.
• Thanks to a sufficient dose of sleep, women have a good amount of milk (the main volume of prolactin is produced at night).
• Constant close contact between newborns and parents ensures peaceful resting.
• Artificially-fed babies can sleep better with the warmth and pleasant smell of their mother.

We can’t deny the negative aspects of sleeping in one bed:

• Parents should find a separate place for children in bed. Often, fathers have to leave the sleeping place. A dad goes to sleep in another room. In some families, it has a harmful effect on the relationship between parents.
• The longer the baby sleeps in the parent’s bed, the more difficult it will be to accept a separate sleeping place.
• The parental bed does not satisfy the needs of the child’s body. Also, infant organisms are not always able to resist even minor adult infections.
• It causes problems with the parents’ rest as they worry about accidentally touching or hurting the baby, disturbing the sleeping process.

Top-3 reasons to create a new sleeping habit

It would be a wise decision to think of the process more deeply before asking how to get my child to sleep in their own bed. Sometimes reasons can be helpful.

• Safety. This is especially important for little babies. There is always a risk of hurting a newborn at night in a dream, so the best option is to take your dearest person to a separate place to relax.
• Independence. Even if you believe your baby is very young, consider separate sleep as a way to be more confident from an early age. This will be a contribution to the further formation of a kid’s personality. At the same time, it is important to be caring and attentive. If during the movement to a separate sleeping place a child is experiencing a break with the mother too hard, you should take a little time and wait until the baby grows up.
• Comfort. the well-being of your baby should not have a strong influence on a good relationship between the parents. Don’t sacrifice your happiness for a child. Only when parents feel happy and get enough sleep, do we have no doubts about the healthy sleep of their children. And don’t feel selfish, cheerful parents mean happy kids.

Perfect age of getting your child to sleep in their own bed

Many parents bring a bed for a newborn right from birth. In this case, you have a chance to avoid adaptation problems. When separating a baby from a parent’s bed a little later, mothers face various problems: children are naughty, constantly wake up and cry like they want to be back to their usual place. Therefore, when a baby is trying to get used to a new sleeping place, it is necessary to focus on age.

Psychologically and physiologically, kids begin to sleep more soundly from 6-7 months. During this period, the number of breastfeeding at night is reduced. Babies pee less, they can stay asleep until morning. Therefore, they wake up less often and parents have fewer worries. You don’t have a strict need for constant control of the position of a baby in sleep. Parents can relax and sleep, even if a child is not dreaming with them.

At 1-1.5 years old, children are interested in everything bright and unknown. Thus, they can be curious about a new bed. Modern types of baby beds differ not only in functionality but also in design. Toddlers like to sleep in their personal car, ship, airplane. Older children (2-3 years old) are very fond of imitating adults and older brothers or sisters. As a result, they may be fascinated by examples of other family members always sleeping in their own beds.

Magic tools for separate sleep

Psychologists are almost unanimous in favor of sleeping parents and children together. But even the most active supporters emphasize that in some situations it is impossible to live without a separate bed.

The optimal age for such an event is 6 months. By this age, the baby should already be strong enough. However, if you want to try this before your baby is six months old, be patient. This process can take several weeks or even months.

We will share the main ideas on how to create the most comfortable conditions so that all changes are painless for both you and your baby.

1. Find a good place to have a rest. You’d better buy a separate comfortable bed for your infant. At first, you can set it close to an adult bed.
2. Arrange a sleeping ritual. Create a special time system and don’t be lazy to keep it, babies can easily live with a certain schedule.
3. Start with daytime rest. Put the infant in a new place at different times of day: stay near your child, read fairy tales, or sing a song until they begin to fall asleep.
4. Bathtime before sleeping. This will be helpful to catch the right mood.
5. You shouldn’t be scared to wake the baby. Even if you notice that your child sleeps for more than 3-4 hours during the day, this may affect the rest at nighttime.
6. Ignore whims when you feel it is possible. Babies often use crying for their own purposes. Some doctors recommend missing such whims (of course, if your baby does not cry for too long). Literally, after a few of these challenging days, your child will easily adapt to a new place.
7. Buy comfortable baby clothes for newborns. It should be made of natural knitted textiles. They will help ensure that nothing distracts your child from sleep.

Avoid these mistakes!

It happens that the child does not want to sleep in their bed, no matter how wisely the parents try to teach him. The following errors may be the cause of failure:

• lack of a night lamp or any other additional light source;
• fear of darkness or loneliness;
• using punishments for denying separate sleep;
• putting a baby, who didn’t try resting alone, in a separate room;
• leaving the child alone in the bed to cry and nobody is paying attention to him.

Now you know everything to gain success with teaching your baby to sleep alone!